Thursday, 6 June 2013

Pancreatitis

If you've noticed my absence from the blog then apologies but I've been in the local medical hospital. About two weeks ago I begun feeling nauseous and went off my food, then a week ago I got a sort of dull ache in my upper stomach on the right hand side but I assumed it was from retching as I'd started vomiting daily. A Doctor asked me to go to the GP on Tuesday so I went along and she examined my stomach and the Nurse who'd came with me said I went white when the GP pressed the area most painful. My pulse was also quick which, she said was either de-hydration or pain. So, she advised our Ward Doctor book me an ultra-sound scan, blood tests, possibly a camera down my throat (I'd vomited blood on one occasion) and she changed my anti-sickness to a one that'd worked previously. She also told the Nurse that if it got worse I should go to the local medical hospital. Later that day, I vomited blood and that night the pain escalated. I was vomiting up my painkillers so we waited until the vomiting settled and I took an anti-sickness and then took all of my painkillers while the night Nurse rang the on-call Doctor. He advised I go to the medical hospital but they didn't have the staff. I was in tears for literally an hour and a half and I got so desperate and worried that I called my Mum and told her what was happening so that she could call the ward and try and sort it for me. I was so angry that just because one of our girls has been temporarily put on the PICU and has to have our staff sit with her, we didn't have the staff to take me to hospital to get rid of my stomach pain! The Nurse appeared in my room though before Mum had a chance to ring, and told me that they would definitely be taking me first thing in the morning after handover because there'd be more staff. My Mum still called the Nurse and told her it was horrible to hear me crying like that. As my pain, settled I thanked the Nurse and tried to sleep but it was a disturbed one and I kept waking up and needing more painkillers. When I needed more at 6am, the Nurse said that I should let it build up again for going into Hospital so they could see how bad it was, so I did and at 8am on the dot I got a knock on my door from an NA telling me she was taking me in the taxi. We got rushed through triage in A&E as my pulse was 131 (should be 70 odd) and the Doctor and a Consultant tried to put a cannula in but failed so I had oral painkillers (dihydrocodiene and paracetamol then Diclofenac) and x-rays (which were normal) and bloods (which clotted). I was moved to the assessment area of a ward and I saw a Doctor first and then a Surgeon and then the Consultant. They eventually decided I had an inflamed Gall Bladder and possibly stones so I was sent back to the psych Hospital with anti-biotics and an appointment for today to have the ultra-sound scan to see if I had stones. So, this morning I went in for my scan and we ended up waiting back in the assessment area of the ward from about half 10 'til 4pm! I finally seen the surgeon I'd saw yesterday and he told me I had pancreatitis then asked what medication I took so I gave him the name of the anti-psychotic (Aripiprazole) and he googled it! It turns out my pancreatitis is drug induced by that tablet! So, the Doctor said I'd have to stop it (gradually, you can't stop Aripiprazole straight off) and I almost cried. It's such a hassle changing medications; you have to come off one and go on another at once and you end up on a low dose of both while one still decreases and the other increases and neither is any use for a time. When we got back to the ward the Doctor spoke to me and said my meds will be reduced from 15mg to 10mg until Monday when it'll go to 5mg and that 'maybe at some point next week, we'll start you on another one!' I was shocked! She was going to leave me without an anti-psychotic?! Did she seriously think I could cope?! What the heck! I had actually been planning on asking for the Aripiprazole to be increased if anything! She told me they couldn't give me one while I took another and I said she could as she had when switching me from Olanzapine to the current one and she told me not to argue with her so I told her she'd better leave. So now, I'm panicking how I'll cope for a week with barely any meds but at least I know I have my PRN, I guess it'll be a test to make sure I should still be on medication. . .